


Bloom

by xyzelo



Category: Kpop - Fandom, Mingyu - Fandom, SEVENTEEN - Fandom, Wonwoo - Fandom, meanie - Fandom, minwon - Fandom
Genre: College, Family, Flowers, Fluff, Light Angst, M/M, Mother - Son, Romance, Siblings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-23
Updated: 2019-08-02
Packaged: 2019-11-04 04:36:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,678
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17891594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xyzelo/pseuds/xyzelo
Summary: Mingyu’s life is insanely attached to flowers and his love for them. His past, his present, and probably even his future has something to do with flowers.Wonwoo buys a bouquet of flowers regularly.





	1. Trouvaille

**Author's Note:**

> Here’s to the first ever fanfic I will ever publish. Hope you enjoy :)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trouvaille (n.) a valuable discovery, or a lucky find; something lovely discovered by chance.  
> \-- Wordstruck

“FOR HIRE: Part time shop attendant and flower arrangement trainee”

The first time Mingyu saw the sign board, he was really iffy about it. Sure, he always wanted to try it especially since it’s a dream of his, but he’s on his second year at college and it’s not really getting any easier.  
But here he is, on a Saturday at 8:50 in the morning, standing 5 meters away from Pétale Flower Shop’s parameters and staring at the glass windows where the sign board used to be but is now gone. The small sign on the front door still says closed, but he can already see a familiar shape of a woman moving around inside the shop. He takes slow steps towards the store, as if he can still back out when he was already interviewed and hired on the spot just days ago.

The woman looks up and smiles at him before he can even touch the door. The chimes ring as he enters the shop and he is greeted by the assorted scent of the varied flowers around.  
“Good morning Min-jung” He says with a bow.  
“Oh you’re here. Perfect timing.” Min-jung smiles at him warmly. “Go to the back, will you? There are still a few flowers that has to be displayed.” Mingyu immediately follows Min-jung to the room at the back of the flower shop, puts his bag in one of the drawers, and wears the beige apron that says Pétale right in the middle of it.  
He has already seen this room before, when Min-jung was just briefing him regarding the shop and where to find things he might need in the future. It is where the different types and colors of papers, ribbons, plastics, and even a small refrigerator where some of the other flowers, especially the roses, are kept. There’s a window at the upper corner of the room – it’s kind of small but it’s enough to shine a pretty amount of light towards the flowers. It is so far Mingyu’s favorite part of the shop.  
Mingyu finishes bringing out the flower vases out after going back and forth 4 times, just in time for the shop to open. Min-jung tells him to twist the closed sign so the word open faces the outside. Their first customer arrives fifteen minutes later. 

Mingyu watches Min-jung arrange the flowers every time a customer would come in and buy something. Even a one stem of a flower still requires to be wrapped and tied with a ribbon, and sometimes thin flower fillers or greeneries are added too. Mingyu does not particularly have a hard time arranging the flowers into bouquets or making them look pretty together – he has studied the simple arrangements through Youtube before. What he finds difficult is tying the ribbons. He has huge and heavy hands, so it’s pretty difficult for him to be gentle and he frequently misses the small details such as the angle of the knot or the length of the ribbon. Luckily, Min-jung is patient enough to fix them for him and teach him again. 

Min-jung was at the supplies room at the back and Mingyu was cutting some stems off the flower fillers when the door chimed open again at exactly 11AM.  
“Good morning, welcome to Pétale Flower Shop!” Mingyu says cheerfully. He sees a tall but frail looking boy who entered the shop. He cannot help but notice how sharp the boy’s facial features are.  
The boy walks straight to the cashier’s booth, not really looking around the shop. Mingyu approaches the boy to assist him. “Hi, may I know what type of flower you’re looking for?”  
The boy looks at him, slightly startled. “Oh hi, good morning, uhm,” The boy looks around the shop but beyond the flowers, as if looking for someone. Mingyu can’t help but stare – the boy’s eyes are not like any other that he’s seen. He snaps out of it when the boy stares at him again.  
“I’d like one stem of sunflower with lavenders please,” he says with an awkward smile.  
“Got it. Please choose which sunflower you would like,” Mingyu says, pointing to the vase with sunflowers. The boy looks at the vase slowly. He touches the flowers gently and finally picks one out. He hands the biggest sunflower from the vase to Mingyu.  
“What color of wrapping paper and ribbon would you like?” Mingyu asks while choosing the stems of lavender to use as fillers.  
“Uhm,” The boy says, hesitating at his choices.  
Min-jung comes out of the supplies room while holding a pair of scissors. “Wonwoo you’re here!” She smiles widely as she approaches the cashier’s booth where the boy is standing in front of now. “Sorry, I was at the back trying to clean up.” She looks at Mingyu and the flowers he’s holding and slightly scrambles.  
“Oh no, Mingyu, we already have a bouquet for Wonwoo.” Min-jung tells him. “Will you get the sunflower with lavender at the back please? It’s inside the refrigerator.” He simply nods and goes straight to the back. Wonwoo is smiling at him as he walks embarrassingly towards the supplies room.  
Mingyu brings the bouquet wrapped in white paper and yellow ribbon to the cashier’s booth, Wonwoo looking at him and giving him a smile. “Thank you,” he says.  
“Would you like anything else?” Min-jung asks the boy in front of her.  
“No, thank you.” He says and gives her a few bills.  
He holds the flowers with one hand and gives a curt smile to Min-jung and Mingyu before he leaves the shop. Mingyu finds his eyes following the boy.  
“Wonwoo comes here every 2 weeks,” Min-jung suddenly says. “He gets the same thing every time – one stem of sunflower and lavenders as fillers. Wrapped in white paper and tied with dandelion colored ribbon.”  
“Oh, okay. I’m sorry.”  
“It’s alright, it’s my mistake for almost forgetting. It’s worth 7030won for him, by the way.” She says calmly. Mingyu nods. 

The rest of the day was a mix of blissful, exciting, and kind of nerve wracking for Mingyu. The fact that it was his first job ever made him nervous, but at the back of his mind he knew he was doing fine.  
The flower shop was located at a main road that he passed almost every day going to his university. So at 12:00PM when was given a 45-minute lunch break, he spent it exploring the neighborhood behind the flower shop’s street. He ate his homemade, unsliced gimbap roll as he strolled around.  
When he came back to the store at 12:35 there were two customers looking around and one standing right in front of the cashier’s booth as Min-jung arranged the flowers she has chosen. Mingyu walks fast towards the booth and immediately wears his apron that he left on the shelves under the table. Min-jung just smiles at him and nods towards the lady customer who was just eyeing the paper roses.  
At around 2PM they received a call ordering for a bouquet to be delivered the next day.  
“Are deliveries always available?” Mingyu asks after Min-jung gives him the instructions for tomorrow. He apparently will be the one to make this delivery.  
“Uhm, no, not really. It’s available on normal days, like today. But not when it’s peak season like the Valentine’s Day or Christmas. They’re not a lot on normal days, just around five per week maybe?”  
“But how? Don’t you usually manage the store by yourself? Who makes the deliveries?” As far as Mingyu knows, he was the first part-timer that Min-jung ever had.  
“My son used to do them for me.” Min-jung smiles at the flowers that she’s arranging. “He used to work nearby, so he usually does the deliveries during his break. He left to work abroad the week before you applied.”  
So that’s why she looked for a part-timer, Mingyu thinks.  
“Why? Are you worried about the delivery?” Min-jung suddenly asks.  
“Oh no, no. I was just wondering.”

All in all his first day at Pétale Flower Shop was alright for him. He was pretty nervous since it was his first job ever but Min-jung has been patient with him. He should have known it would be a fairly comfortable job for him when Min-jung emitted no intimidating energy at all. 

As soon as Mingyu finishes washing up for the night, he dials his mom’s number. It rings four times, and then he hears his mom’s voice.  
“Hello?”  
“Mom, hi”  
“Oh, Mingyu. How are you?”  
“I started my part time job at the flower shop today”  
“Really? How was it? Was the owner nice?”  
“Yes, she is actually. She’s been very patient with me. It’s not as busy as I expected it to be, but I think I’ll still learn a lot.”  
“That’s good, Mingyu, I’m glad to hear that.”  
Mingyu thinks more than twice before he asks the next question, but he still asks anyway. “Where’s dad, is he there?”  
There’s a noticeable pause before his mom answers. It’s already past 9PM and his dad isn’t home again. “No, he’s out. He’s probably just around though, don’t worry.”  
“Mom,” Mingyu wants to say just get a divorce already, but he can’t. He doesn’t have the guts.  
“Yes?”  
“Uhm, remember Yejin and Soyi? The two girls that Minseo used to bring home when she was in gradeschool?”  
“Yes, they used to be at our house almost every day. Why? Did you hear from them?” Her voice immediately shifts, sounding too hopeful – excited, even.  
“No, not really. But I found out from Junhui that one of them apparently left before they started high school. And they promised to visit her once they finish high school,”  
“Do you know where she moved?”  
“Junhui said her whole family moved to Jeonju. He’ll ask around for a more specific location and update me.”  
“Okay. Maybe I can go there next week. I’ll tell you—”  
“No, mom, let me. Stay home. We’ve done this a lot of times, I do the travelling, okay?”  
He can hear his mom struggling to agree, but she knows she won’t win. “Yeah, okay.”  
“Okay”  
“Junhui is too nice to be doing all this for us. Tell him to pass by here so I can cook him something nice, okay?”  
“I’ll try. You know how shy he can get,” Mingyu chuckles.  
“Yeah, he can be. Okay, go get some rest now,”  
“Yeah. Tell dad to call me, will you?”  
“Yeah I will. Good night, Mingyu.”  
“Good night mom”

Mingyu doesn’t hate his dad, not even on the nights that he’d hear his parents fighting. It’s just that it’s easier to get a hold of their mother.  
It’s neither of their fault that their relationship isn’t working out. None of them cheated on the other, nor is someone not doing their duties as a parent properly – it’s just two adults realizing that they’re not as compatible for each other as they thought they would be. Honestly, Mingyu wishes they’d just get a divorce already. Minseo wished the same.  
Which is why she ran away when Mingyu went to Seoul for college. She’s always been the one begging their parents to get a divorce, but they never listened – always saying they can still make it work. She used to sneak in her brother’s room on the nights that the fights were worse than usual. Sometimes, Mingyu would beat her to it and already invite her out for a late night icecream before they could even hear their mother crying. But when Mingyu was gone, Minseo couldn’t handle it alone. She ran away and now they have no idea where she is. 

Mingyu falls asleep on his bed while studying the map of Jeonju.


	2. Resfeber

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Resfeber (n.) The restless race of the traveller’s heart before the journey begins, when anxiety and anticipation are tangled together. -- Hopscotch The Globe

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this took way too long to be updated, but a lot has been happening in my life and I just sort of lost energy to write. But I've finally completed the whole outline of this story, so it's most likely that I'll be writing continuously now. I also noticed that my chapters have been so short so I'll try to make it longer next time... I'll try to update fast!  
> Hope you enjoy!

Mingyu used Min-jung’s scooter to deliver the flowers to a restaurant about half an hour away. There was a sign on the glass door that said it would be closed for the rest of the afternoon until night. Mingyu entered the venue that was fairly empty except for a few chairs scattered around. There were numerous unlit candles at the side and printed pictures on a table. There must be a private event later, Mingyu thought.

  
“Hello?” He called out, confused why no one seems to be setting up for the supposed event. He continues to look around, behind the stacks of chairs on the other side. A tall and bulky guy comes out from the back, seemingly to have come from the bathroom. He’s focused on his phone, typing intently.  
“Hey,” Mingyu calls out again. The guy quickly looks up at Mingyu.  
“Oh hi, sorry, I came from the bathroom.”  
“Yeah that’s alright. I’m looking for, uhm, Kang Jinwoo?” Mingyu looks at the receipt on his hand.  
“That’s me, that’s me.” The man points to the bouquet of tulips that Mingyu is holding. “The flowers are mine, right?” He asks.  
“Yeah, here.” Mingyu hands the bouquet as Jinwoo grabs his wallet from his back pocket. He gives his credit card for Mingyu to swipe on the portable terminal.  
He leaves right away with Min-jung’s scooter. He thinks it’s adorable that Min-jung uses it every day to get to the flowershop.

Mingyu allows everyone in his class to leave before he approaches his professor. Their final paper was just discussed in class and it’s supposed to be done by pairs, but of all classes that he took this semester, this was the only class wherein he did not know anyone.  
“Yes, Mr. Kim Mingyu? Is that right?”  
“Yes sir”  
“How may I help you?”  
“Uhm, well, everyone seemed to have found their partner for the final project,” Mingyu smiled awkwardly. “and I know you said one group can be in threes since the class is an odd number but I was wondering –”  
“If you can do it alone?” His professor, Mr. Han Ji Wook, finished his sentence for him.  
“Yeah? If it’s fine with you?”  
His professor looks at him, as if judging by the way he physically looks if he is a good student. “Yeah, it’s fine, as long as you promise you can pull it off?”  
“Yes, sir, I assure you I can.”  
“Yeah, I figured you wouldn’t ask if you can’t do it.”  
There’s a long pause before any of them said anything, Mingyu wasn’t sure how to respond. “So that’s a yes, sir? Right?”  
“Yeah, yeah, go do it by yourself.”  
“Thank you, Professor Kim!” He thanks his professor and then heads home.

His eyes immediately notice the white shoes by the entrance of his apartment. That’s an unusual sight.  
“Hao?”  
“Oh, Gyu!” A slim looking boy comes out of the bathroom, he’s wearing a gray shirt and loose joggers and his hair is still wet.  
“Hey, you’re home early?” Mingyu says curiously and the other boy immediately smiles widely.  
“Yeah, our professor got sick himself, probably stomach flu or some sort. There was no substitute, so we all took the day off.” Minghao says, still drying his hair with the towel that hung on his shoulders. He was thin but not in an unhealthy way. His cheeks were full and the way he moved was lively.  
“Oh… I thought seeing your white shoes by the door was weird.”  
“Yeah, I’m just glad to take an afternoon off.” Minghao comments.  
“I feel like I barely see you home anymore. Schedule’s still hectic?” Minghao is studying to become a nurse and he’s currently on his third year. On some days he would be at the hospital, and on other days he’d be at school attending lectures. His and Junhui’s parents have known each other since they were young, which is how Mingyu ended up being roommates with him.  
“Yeah, sometimes I feel bad for feeling thankful when our professors can’t make it, like today, but we never really get to rest you know? I think people there are starting to forget what the word ‘rest’ means.” Mingyu just stares and snickers at his friend’s ranting. “Sometimes I wonder why I even took this degree,”  
“Don’t say that,” Mingyu immediately says as he grabs a soda from their fridge. “We both know you love it.”  
“Yeah, well…” He laughs quietly as he dries his hair with his towel. “You gonna be here tonight? I’m really craving pizza and chicken.”  
“Yeah, I’ll be here. Shall we have some beer?”  
Minghao thinks this through. “Hm, just one can for me. I still have classes tomorrow, you know”  
“Alright. I’ll get them.”  
“Thanks, I’ll go take a nap.”

  
They both proceed to their rooms and Mingyu immediately places an order from their favorite chicken and pizza restaurant. He takes out his planner and looks at the things he needs to finish for the week. There’s not much, but he remembers the final paper he chose to do by himself. He thinks of candidates to interview – he needs to interview a total of 3 business owners. He remembers Min-jung and makes a mental note to ask her the next time he goes to work. But other than Min-jung, he’s not sure who else he can ask.  
The pizza and chicken that he ordered arrived earlier than expected. It hasn’t been long since Minghao went to take a nap and it’s not yet time for dinner anyway so he decides to go to the convenience store by himself to buy beer.

  
Minghao first came to South Korea from Nanjing, China when he was thirteen. He came with Jun and Jun’s family – their families trusted each other that much – and lived in Busan. It was a time when Minghao’s parents had both been laid off from their jobs and couldn’t afford to sustain their whole family anymore. Meanwhile Jun’s oldest sister has been working in Busan for three years already and their father managed to find a job, too, so migrating was fairly easier for them.

  
Minghao is always warm and cheerful. He never made anyone feel that he’s too exhausted to talk or interact, especially not with Mingyu. But Mingyu knows how tired he is. Last school year, Minghao would still come with Mingyu every time he’d leave to look for Minseo, but not for the past recent trips that he had.

  
Even a few meters away from the shop, Mingyu can already see that the usual convenience store that he goes to is closed. It’s dark and the signage that’s usually lit up is turned off, too. He even sees the owner, a middle-aged man, locking the doors of the store. Mingyu turns around and walks the other way, good thing there are other convenience stores around their area.  
He enters the convenience store and immediately proceeds to the cold drinks section. He also grabs a pack of trash bags, remembering that their stock at home is almost out. He doesn’t bother looking up at the employee at the cashier, but he feels someone’s eyes on him and the voice sounds familiar, too.

  
“Is this all?” The cashier guy asks. Mingyu looks up. It’s the guy from the flower shop, the one whose bouquet was made in advance by Min-jung.  
“Oh, hey,” Mingyu says.  
“Hi,” Wonwoo shows him a pleasant smile.  
“Yeah that’s all. How much is it?”  
“It’s 9300 won.”  
Mingyu gives him the money, kinda awkwardly, because he’s trying to remember his name.  
“You’re the guy from the flowershop the other day, right?” The guy says while handing Mingyu’s change.  
“Yeah. You’re… Wonho?” Mingyu tries, but is answered by a small laughter.  
“Wonwoo.”  
“Right, sorry.”  
“That’s fine.” Wonwoo is still smiling, and Mingyu is still staring at him. He’s staring at something on Wonwoo’s face, but he doesn’t know what. He snaps out of it when Wonwoo hands him the plastic bag.  
“Thank you,” He says, mindlessly peeking inside the plastic bag and slowly walking backwards to the door.

  
Mingyu heads back to their house, feeling embarrassed. He’s usually good with names, so he got himself flustered by his own mistake. Even more so, he’s usually sociable and talkative, so he’s a bit taken aback with how tongue-tied he got. He thinks of Wonwoo’s face again – something about it is just so eye-catching. He’s not sure if it’s his sharp features or something else. He brushes the thought away, thinking that it’s inappropriate to keep thinking of a stranger’s face.

  
Minghao is already awake from his nap when Mingyu gets back. They settle to eat in the living room while watching a drama on the television.

  
“Oh, by the way,” Mingyu raises his head to look at Minghao while they eat their chicken and pizza. “Do you know anyone who owns a business? It could be anything, as long as I can interview them about their target market.”  
“What happened to your connections, huh?” Minghao asks while making a quotation mark movement with his fingers at the word connections. “I thought people who took up Entrepreneurship would know lots of business owners or even own businesses themselves?”  
“Well, most of us just know the same people so I’d rather look for others.”  
“Ah, that makes sense.” He nods while staring at the television, not really watching. “Hm… I’ll ask around and tell you.”  
“Tha—,” Mingyu wasn’t paying much attention to the drama showing as well, so he was quite surprised when Minghao suddenly turned to him.  
“Dude,” Minghao says, eyes wide.  
“What?”  
“I just met this girl who sells perfumes!”  
“You have time to meet girls?” Mingyu says, suddenly not so focused on his project anymore.  
“Yeah dude, I met her yesterday during lunch.” Minghao continues, eyes shining of too much excitement. “She’s Seokmin’s younger sister and her hobby is making and selling perfumes!”  
“You sound more excited about the girl than the fact that she sells perfumes, man.” Minghao stops talking and just stares at Mingyu, smiling so wildly. “That pretty?”  
He looks down shyly and scratches his nose. “Actually, yeah.” This makes Mingyu laugh.  
“Alright, then. Hit her up and tell her your friend needs to ask a favor.” They both snicker at this.


End file.
